100 years ago, a brave lawman was gunned down

Dec. 16, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Orange County Sheriff's Department under sheriff Robert Squires who was killed in the performance of his duty on December 16, 1912 during what is known as the shootout at Tomato Springs, trying to apprehend a suspect for rape. The suspect is thought to have been out-of-work drifter Joe Matlock, from Oregon. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

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When he took office in 1911, Sheriff Charles Ruddock commanded a staff of eight full-time deputies and jailers, serving a county of nearly 34,000 citizens. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

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Santa Ana Constable Calvin E. Jackson and City Marshall Sam Jernigan climbed the hill up a shallow canyon about a mile from Tomato Springs, while Ruddock and the remainder of the posse continued to fire. Jackson later became Orange County's sixth sheriff and served from 1915 to 1923. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

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Then, City Marshall Sam Jernigan climbed the hill up a shallow canyon about a mile from Tomato Springs, while Ruddock and the remainder of the posse continued to fire. Jernigan later became Orange County Sheriff and served from 1923 to 1931. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

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Current view of the Tomato Springs toll booth of the 241 Toll Road, near the battle site of the Tomato Springs Shootout. - HANDOUT -, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Squires' commemorative display from the Tomato Springs shootout including the same model nickel-plated six-shooter -- a .44 caliber Smith and Wesson. The badge, or shield, shown in this photo is not the version worn by Orange County Sherif's deputies in 1912 when Squires was killed. - HANDOUT -, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Found at coroner's office in a safe before the old building was torn down, Joe Matlock's actual pearl handled Iver Johnson DA safety hammerless 38 cal. revolver is displayed on top of the evening edition of the Santa Ana Register with the headline announcing the death of Under Sheriff Robert Squires, published December 16, 1912. Matlock, the son of a mayor from Eugene, Ore., who denied his son's identity in public, but had privately admitted it to Sheriff Ruddock. - HANDOUT -, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Sheriff's shield that deputies would have worn from 1900 to 1920. A photo of this badge and others throughout history hangs in the foyer of the Sheriff's Department in Santa Ana. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The portrait of Under Sheriff Robert Squires hangs outside the office of the current Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Sandra Hutchens at the department's headquarters in Santa Ana. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Orange County Sheriff's Department Sgt. J. M. Hollenbeck, department historian, helps explain the Tomato Springs shootout where the first officer died while performing his duty 100 years ago while trying to apprehend out-of-work drifter near today's Great Park. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Orange County Sheriff's Department under sheriff Robert Squires who was killed in the performance of his duty on December 16, 1912 during what is known as the shootout at Tomato Springs, trying to apprehend a suspect for rape. The suspect is thought to have been out-of-work drifter Joe Matlock, from Oregon. COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

"About a mile from Cheney's ranch house at Tomato Springs is where the events that mark the day as one of the most terrible in the county's history took place, marked the death of as brave an officer as ever wore a star." — Santa Ana Register, Dec.16, 1921

His name was Robert Squires and he was lawman.

He wore at least three different badges in his 44 years. He was once a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but, 100 years ago today, it was the six-point badge that the father of five wore as the Under-Sheriff of Orange County. With his wife, Mary Jane, he owned a farm near Tomato Springs, and it was in the ridges nearby that Squires' name went down in Orange County history.

What exactly happened the day of his death has been muddied by a lack of records, faded memories and the bravado that can sometimes distort a memory.

What is known is that Squires was called the night of Dec. 15, 1912, and told the niece of William Cook had been attacked and raped by a drifter who fled into the hills just north of what is today's Great Park.

"This was one incident that was painted in the county's memory very early," said Phil Brigandi, a local historian.

Squires grabbed his nickel-plated six-shooter -- a .44 caliber revolver -- that he stuffed into his holster.

"We finally spotted him on top of a hill. Bob was quite a distance from me and evidently came upon the man almost face to face, for both opened fire at once, Squires with his revolver, and the bandit with a Winchester." — Santa Ana Register, Dec.16, 1921

On the William Cook ranch on Dec. 15, 1912, a drifter asked for work, but was told there was none. A tall, clean-shaven 27-year-old with bluish-gray eyes, the stranger would return later that night.

According to a chronicle compiled by county historian James Sleeper, the drifter returned to the ranch at about 7 p.m. and grabbed Cook's two nieces as they walked out of the house. He tied the youngest, 13, to a fence post, and took the 16-year-old to haystack behind the barn.

News accounts of the day detail how the 13-year-old girl freed herself and ran to alert Cook. When Cook ran out, the man fired at him twice in the dark.

"Having no fire arms, the rancher jumped on a horse and raced to his brother's place," Sleeper, who is now deceased, recounted in his chronicle. "Here they got the latter's automobile and drove around to neighbor's and told them of the assault."

A posse was beginning to form and the sheriff at the time, C. E. Ruddock was told of the assault, but he was in Brea investigating the beating of a wife. The men that gathered found the suspect gone, and deputies went to the Cook farm to lead farmers and ranch hands to the hills by lamp light.

It was not uncommon for the department at the time to get help from men in the area, deputizing them temporarily to help, said Sgt. John Hollenbeck, an unofficial historian for the department.

"If you were in the county, you probably had something to do with that manhunt," he said. "Anyone who could respond, did."

"The man was surrounded so that he would not get away. Most of the officers were armed only with revolver, and Sheriff Ruddock saw that it would take good rifles to reach the outlaw." — Santa Ana Register, Dec.16, 1921

Today, 100 years after the shootout Robert Squires' name sits at the top of the Orange County Peace Officers' Memorial in Santa Ana, the first in a list of 49 Orange County officers killed in the last 100 years.

"Even in those days, the idea of a manhunt conjured images of the old west, and it was a rarity," Brigandi said.

Squires was born in the logging town of Renfrew, Canada.

He and his four brothers first moved to North Dakota with their parents, but Squires would return to Canada, serving as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

After meeting and marrying his wife, Mary Jane, the couple and their first two sons moved to Santa Ana in 1894.

There, according to the records, Squires started a freight transfer business using horses he purchased from the Santa Ana Fire Department. But in time Squires would find himself back behind a badge. By 1911, he was appointed Santa Ana constable.

Less than a year later, Sheriff Ruddock asked Squires to be undersheriff, making him his second-in-command in a department that counted less than 10 deputies. On the morning of Dec. 16, 1912, he and other deputies led a posse in search for a man who was holed up in the hills.

The man was surrounded, but held about 150 men at bay.

"An occasional shot was fired by someone hoping to stir the man up, but the bandit kept well to cover," reported the Santa Ana Register in its evening edition that day.

According to Sheriff's records, Squires and Deputy J.F. "Tex" Stacey, as well as Santa Ana Constable C.E. Jackson and City Marshall Sam Jernigan climbed the hill up a shallow canyon about a mile from Tomato Springs, while Ruddock and the remainder of the posse continued to fire.

Squires must have been familiar with the area, since he and his family owned a ranch nearby. He tried to sneak up on the man and was about 10 or 15 feet away from him when a volley of fire erupted on both sides.

"This morning he boasted of his crime and was followed into the foothills. There he suddenly opened fire on Under-Sheriff Squires and Stacey. Squires is dead." — Santa Ana Register, Dec.16, 1921

Squire's body fell about 50 feet. Stacey took cover. Stacey told reporters at the time he continued to shoot, but was wounded in the shoulder. He switched hands until he was shot again, and the men had to retreat without Squires body.

His body remained on the hill for hours.

Ruddock and three other men, Harry Tubbs, William Culver and Albert Prather later crept up the hill to retrieve the body. The effort eventually claimed the life of Prather, who was shot in the temple. Culver was wounded in the knee.

"This was a shocking incident at the time, and so the law enforcement community at the time was determined to get this guy," Brigandi said.

According to Sheriff Department's accounts, the captain of the National Guard unit, Nathan A. Ulm, served as a deputy before, or after the shootout. On Dec. 16, 1912, however, he gathered several men from the militia – without the approval of the state governor. The solders led a charge up the hill, rushing the suspect and finding him dead with a gunshot wound to the head.

Sleeper, the county historian, recorded in his account of the incident that a .32 revolver was found at the side of the man who would be dubbed the "Tomato Springs Bandit." There was one empty chamber in the gun, and a .32 bullet was found in his head, leading Sleeper to believe it was the gunman himself who took the fatal shot.

Hollenbeck thinks that theory has merit.

"There's a theory he was behind rocks, so he wasn't going to get hit," he said.

Brigandi said Sleeper was sure that the man turned out to be Joe Matlock, the son of a mayor from Eugene, Ore., who denied his son's identity in public, but had privately admitted it to Sheriff Ruddock.

After the shooting, members of the posse took Matlock's body and sat in the backseat of a car, parading it down Fourth Street.

Two days later, Squires' funeral was attended by hundreds.

His portrait, with his hair parted just off-center and an Elk's pin on his lapel, is displayed today in the department headquarters.

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